Why Not Central America – Our Early Retirement Plan

Don’t Let Fear Steal the Life You Could Have

I have heard it repeatedly, “How could you leave the safety of the United States for retirement?” My answer is usually, “how could we not?”

Living in another country is a save-your-retirement move that few people consider. Staying would have meant severe belt-tightening. After some research, we moved to Tronadora, Costa Rica and haven’t looked back. Since then we have moved to San Juan del Sur.

We had what some may call a unique situation with both of us suffering from chronic illnesses. Stacey had already stopped working due to disability and I was hanging onto my job by a thread. We knew we needed to do something.

After a lot of research, we realized we could easily afford living outside the US and never afford to live in the US. We spent a year getting ready to move, selling off all the useless things we had acquired. Rethinking what was truly important to us.

Although Costa Rica proved to be far too expensive for our budget, we found we can live very well here in Nicaragua and even put money into savings for travel and special treats.

One thing we did not do, that we tell everyone to do is that after researching as much as you can, go visit. If you travel the right way, a month in a third world country can cost less than just a couple of nights in a hotel.

The right way is to not stay in a hotel. Use Airbnb to book a stay. Most places overseas you can get a hefty discount for a one month stay. Even without a discount, most places will have significantly lower prices than a hotel in the US.

When we made our first visit to Nicaragua for 7 days, we chose to book a private room in a Nicaraguan house. Breakfast was provided and the advice and suggestions we received were invaluable in making our stay enjoyable. That family has become our best friends here in Nicaragua and we see them often.

Our room was $20 a night and included a huge Nicaraguan breakfast that we found delicious. That same Airbnb discounts 30% for a one month stay, it is not unheard of to find a 50% discount for a month.

A month will give you a better feeling about your intended new home country than a quick one-week visit. We have met a number of people who came here on vacation, went home and started packing and returned to live here.

We have a friend that lives here on a small social security check every month. There is a full kitchen available to him, but he chooses not to use it. Instead, he eats every meal out simply because it is so cheap. He rarely eats at restaurants along the beach, because they are the most expensive. He often chooses to go to small Nicaraguan eateries where a very filling dinner can be purchased of under $5 and breakfast usually breakfast is $2.50.

Keep in mind that San Juan del Sur is the most expensive place in Nicaragua. This town is a tourist destination, and the prices reflect that. There are much less expensive places all over the country.

Moving abroad may be the ultimate in using your brain in new ways. We’ve always been resourceful but when you put those skills to the test it’s amazing what you can achieve.

The most surprising thing about our move was how quickly we found ourselves thriving once we decided to fit in. We embraced the change and feel like it was a great decision.

Our Early Retirement Philosophy

In our discussions up to the point of making our decision to retire early we always seemed to come back to the point that we needed to downsize, simplify and enjoy life.

We had collected tons of stuff, but did any of it mean anything? We had unbelievable numbers of commitments, but were we getting things done? We were always on the run to get something, see someone or be somewhere, but did the important things get done?

We came to realize that we were running in circles and not having the time to do the things we felt were important to us. What was important to us was time together, not just time together, but true quality time to enjoy adventures together.

For those that do not know us, adventure can mean many things to both of us. I am very fortunate that Stacey enjoys many of the things I do, fishing, hunting, camping, etc. We also really finding someplace new to go to and explore. Sadly for at least the last 4 years we have not been able to enjoy these things as much as we would like to.

I just found a great post by Paul Yeatman over on the Retire for Less in Costa Rica blog, titled Our Retire for Less in Costa Rica Philosophy. This really sums up our own philosophy to our early retirement.

You Are Going Where? Are You Loco? Part II

As I write this we are 4 months and 22 days away from our move to Costa Rica and the cold grip of winter has settled into the Utah Mountains. Life at 7,000 feet is tough in these mountains and even more so when you have the medical conditions that we both have.

We continue to have questions from a lot of people as to why we would move away from a house we have spent 8 years remodeling, away from Family and into a culture so radically different.

Most people do not realize how we are now living our lives for almost 6 months of the year that the cold is settled in. If we were to stay put where we are, every year we would spend those 6 months sitting on the couch unable to enjoy some of the basic things in life. The levels of pain we are both in during the winter would make most people cry and often makes us cry. We are unable to take pain killers due to the negative side effects upon both of us. Our Doctors are amazed at how we can get along without the pain killers and sometimes we just have to break down and take them anyways.

Just today I had 4 people at work that saw me walking around during my trips around the building when I had to get up from the chair. Each commented that I must be in a lot of pain and wanted to know if I had been in an accident. In fact it was just the weather of another winter storm descending upon us.

When it warms up each year we improve greatly, but are still affected each time a storm comes through. We spend our summers trying to catch up with the things we could not do during the winter, falling further behind each year. This year we still have a ton of work to do and will never get it done.

Our beloved greenhouse has sat mostly unused for the last two years when we could not put the effort into it until later each year. We finally sold it after we decided to move south as we realized we would not be able to use it anymore even before we left. We are very happy that the family that bought it have very similar ideas to us about living sustainably.

We realized early on, when looking at options that we would be unable to at this point move to St George Utah or Arizona for a climate that would better suit us at this time. It is 5 years before I reach retirement age. However we have my Navy Retirement and VA Disability pay that I receive now. It became quite clear that the only way we could afford to live between now and full retirement was to relocate to Central and South America.

Then we discovered House Sitting, by house sitting we can reduce our living expenses even more. We can move around to different areas and countries. We were amazed at how our first house sit came together like it was meant to be.

The most positive thing going for us there is that the stable weather patterns and overall climate in Central America will mean an end to the pain we suffer each winter and we can live a fulfilling life. We will have the chance to truly enjoy each other’s company rather than just occupy space next to each other on the couch each winter.

We plan to spend 5 years moving around and exploring a part of the world that is very different from where we have lived before. We know that our relocation will allow us to have a life together once again. We do not need things like a house we own, more importantly we have each other and the memories we will be creating together.

Pura Vida!

Time Is Short, Live Life To It’s Fullest

toucan I recently read two articles on the Retire for Less in Costa Rica Blog that really sum up what we have been thinking and what shaped our decision making. These articles have helped me describe to others why we are moving now.

The first was written by a former Financial Analyst and takes an actuarial point of view to the subject. In “What Does It Cost You NOT to Move to Costa Rica?” Bob Evans points out that when you get within a few years of retirement, the benefit of those last year’s tend to be very little.

In my case with my Military Retirement already secured, working an extra 5 years at my second career was only going to make a marginal difference in retirement pay. The value of spending those 5 years with my wife full time far outweighed the little bit of money.

The second article, “Five Good Reasons to Consider Retiring Abroad” generated a bit of discussion on some of the Facebook groups. Although some people felt the low cost of Assisted Live was the high point, I focused on item #1. Americans live on average 19 years after retirement, I wanted more time to enjoy the time I have with my wife. We are best friends and enjoy doing so much together. In the last few years those special adventures have been few and far between simply because of work and other commitments.

In our final analysis we discovered that we were at a point where we would be much better off moving to Central America than staying put and working ourselves to death, literally.